April 23, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
541 
E. Bedinghaus, who had the Gold Medal for ten 
Cape and New Holland plants. He also had the Gold 
Medal for fifteen greenhouse plants in large healthy 
specimens, his pyramidal Acacia longifolia being 
io ft. to 12 ft. high. M. A. de Clercq Van Ghysegem 
took the Gold Medal for fifteen Ericas. In the 
amateurs’ classes for thirty and twenty Cape and New 
Holland plants, M. E. Bedinghaus again led the way 
with interesting collections. He also secured the 
Gold Medal for the best twelve plants in tubs for the 
summer garden, showing a huge Doryanthes Palmeri 
and other interesting subjects. Mme. la Comtesse 
de Kerchove de Denterghem took the Gold Medal 
for twenty Cape and New Holland plants in fine form. 
The Gold Medal for twenty Rhododendrons of 
Java, and the Himalayas, or their hybrids, was taken 
by M. J. Baumann, Ghent, with a well-flowered and 
powerfully-scented lot, including R. Edgworthii, R. 
fragrantissima, R. daihousieanum, R. d. victoria- 
num, R. Aucklandi, R. asamicum, R. Gibsoni, R. 
formosum, Countess of Sefton, and other fine green¬ 
house types. 
M. Jules de Cock, Ledeberg, secured the Gold 
Medal for twenty Cape and New Holland plants. 
M. G. de Saegher, Ghent, was second, taking the 
Silver Gilt Medal in case. 
Clivias were well grown and richly coloured ; and 
the Gold Medal for twenty plants was taken by M. 
C. Ver-Meire, Gendbrugge; M. B. Fortie was a 
good second. 
There was a large number of exhibits of Conifers 
and other hardy shrubs in the open air, as well as 
greenhouses, tools, machinery, &c. M. Fred. 
Burvenick pere, Gendbrugge, Ghent, took Silver- 
gilt Medals for twenty dwarf and ten new Conifers, 
and a Gold Medal for forty Conifers. 
<§ leanings Jeont f fjc lIHnffb 
of Srienr^. 
The following subjects came before the Scientific 
Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society on 
the 22nd ult. : — 
Orchid Roots with Fungus.—With reference 
to the nature of the fungus attacking Orchid roots 
in a damp atmosphere, referred to at the last meet¬ 
ing, Dr. W. G. Smith, of the Yorkshire College, 
Leeds, writes as follows;—"The Orchid aerial roots 
sent contained a fungus which lives on them and 
has killed some already. The absence of any form 
of reproductive organs renders it impossible to 
identify the parasite. Other portions of the diseased 
plants (i.e., leaves) would be required to ascertain the 
true nature of the fungus. The fungus present 
attacks living cells, consumes the food laid up by the 
plants, and finally kills the roots. A disease having 
somewhat the same effects has been found in the 
Vanilla plants of Mauritius.” 
Palm Leaves Discoloured.—Mr. W. A. Holmes, 
F.R.H.S., of the Putney Nurseries, sent some por¬ 
tions of Palm leaves with numerous translucent spots. 
They were received from the Continent. An ex¬ 
amination appeared to indicate a previous attack by 
insect grubs, but none were present, the interior 
tissue having disappeared from the spots; so that 
the new leaves would probably be quite healthy. 
Vine-Browning.—Mr. Hudson showed a young 
shoot, the leaves of which were blistered and brown. 
This is due to the presence of the well-known 
myxomycetous fungus, Plasmodiophora Vitis, allied 
to P. Brassicae, the " slime fungus," which gives 
rise to “ club-disease,” or “ finger and toe,” in cul¬ 
tivated cruciferous plants. The only remedy is to 
cut away and burn all affected leaves or shoots. It 
is described and figured in Viala’s Maladies de la 
Vigne, p. 400. 
Ivy Sports.—Dr. Masters exhibited sprays of a 
peculiar small-leaved dwarf Ivy, remarkable for 
sending up vertical shoots with distichous leaves, 
though unattached to a wall. The habit appears to 
have become fixed, even in free-growing branches. 
On some shoots, however, the leaves were Spirally 
arranged, as is usual on such branches. It may be 
observed that the change from the distichous 
arrangement of the leaves on the horizontal branches 
of the common Laurel to a spiral one, when the 
boughs grow erect is common ; but it is not a fixed 
character. 
WAKE OP! YOUNG GARDENERS. 
I have before me the programme of a flourishing 
Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Society, issued 
last October. Amongst the various prizes offered 
for exhibits, essays, &c., the said prizes being gener¬ 
ously placed at the disposal of the committee by 
various local gentlemen, who I know are actuated by 
a desire to further self-help and improvement 
amongst the younger members—I observe three 
prizes, books to the value of 15s., 10s. and 6s., first, 
second, and third respectively, for an essay on "A 
Visit to Kew Gardens ” (to be competed for by 
undergardeners only). 
I was present on the 5th inst., when the annual 
dinner and distribution of prizes took place, and was 
mortified to hear that although this said society 
numbers nearly 100 members, and includes many 
young men, not one attempted to obtain these prizes, 
although residing not more than an hour’s walk from 
the finest botanic garden in the world, and given six 
montns wherein to complete the task, not one entry 
being sent in to the secretary. This is not creditable 
to young men who aspire to any position in the pro¬ 
fession, and who possess such advantages as a re¬ 
sidence within a few miles of Kew and the R.H.S. 
Gardens at Chiswick, to say nothing of other historic 
establishments, such as those at Gunnersbury, afford. 
It may be that the prize of a 15s. book was not 
tempting enough for these young men. The single 
effort, without any prize, to describe a visit to Kew 
would repay anyone. The educational value of such 
an attempt to the essayist, is far greater than the 
intrinsic value of the book. And would any sensible 
young man, possessing any ambition, despise such a 
book as beneath his notice ? I have before me four 
Jefferies’ “ Field and Hedgerow ” (not a third of the 
value) gained as a prize when a younger member of 
the self-same society, which has given me many a 
half-hour of pleasure and delight, and is always re¬ 
freshing. If does seem to me from observation 
during eight years’ residence in this neighbourhood, 
so rich in its advantages and associations, that the 
young men simply ignore these golden opportunities 
of intellectual improvement, and only remember 
with regret when too late, when perhaps they have 
undertaken responsibilities and cares in other spheres, 
that their youth, which is the best time for learning, 
was so full of opportunities, not utilised, but thrown 
away.— A. P. 
• I - - 
HOW A KNOWLEDGE OF BOTANY IS 
A HELP TO GARDENING.* 
This subject is a most important one, a subject, in 
fact, far too large to be justly dealt with in a single 
essayj Botany has so much to teach us which is of 
great interest in gardening, that it cannot be other¬ 
wise, because through a knowledge of the science, 
we get an insight of the physiological principles upon 
which the practice of horticultural operations are 
founded. 
A gardener is a physiologist in practical horticul¬ 
ture. It is the one and greatest aim of agardeDerto 
bring plant life to its highest state of excellence; or 
if I may use a scientific phrase, to develop every 
organ of plant life to its highest condition. Now in 
order to do this, various are the means which he 
brings to bear upon it. In the first place it is the soil 
which occupies his attention, then come heat and 
moisture; in fact, all the conditions under which a 
plant is found naturally, he fulfils to the best of his 
ability. It often happens that by thoughtful care 
he so much improves the surroundings of these 
plants compared with those of their natural home, 
that he coaxes Nature as it were, and consequently • 
there are greater developments of parts, higher 
perfection ot flower and fruit. Then is not the gar¬ 
dener a true physiologist, though often unknowingly 
so ? 
I contend that if a knowledge of botany is a means 
by which we can better understand the nature of 
plants, it must be a help to gardening, and it is, 
therefore, advantageous for the gardener to under¬ 
stand it. 
It is questioned by some whether a gardener 
should have a knowledge of botany at all. The 
objections raised by those people are, that it is 
possible for a gardener to become "too much of a 
naturalist,” too great a lover of Nature, they assert; 
♦ A paper read by Mr. R. Hodder, gardener to Mrs. Trevor 
Barclay, Ponsonby, Torquay, Devon, at a meeting of the Devon 
and Exeter Gardeners’ Association. 
that the gardener would see more beauty in plants 
before being improved by ths skill of the hybridist 
than afterwards; that is to say, that to him a single 
flower would be more a thing of beauty than a double 
one. 
Evidently, some people have the idea that double 
flowers and others, so much improved by cultivation, 
are altogether unnatural. Such is not my opinion. 
There is nothing unnatural in a plant as it grows, 
although there are at times abnormal developments. 
The powers which plants possess of developing the 
double from the single flower are the lawful 
possibilities of Nature, and are as natural as it is for 
the sun to shine. 
Therefore, the improvements of plants by man 
(and they are many) represent no new powers added 
to Nature, but are the result of thoughtful and intel¬ 
ligent men grasping the possibilities in plant life. 
There are no men to whom we are more indebted 
than to the hybridists, whether it be of fruit, vege¬ 
tables, or flowers, in which they develop a new 
feature; we might say the world is benefited by 
their operations. 
Though in all this, man is the instrument by which 
the changes are brought about, it is my contention 
that man adds no new possibilities to Nature, but he 
takes advantage of the powers already there. 
Therefore, I maintain that horticulture or garden¬ 
ing is the perfecting of Nature, or the development 
of parts which in a wild state is often an impossibility. 
It is often the case with our choicest plants in their 
natural habitats, that they have to keep up a tre¬ 
mendous struggle for existence. 
Let me give you one example which I think will 
prove beyond doubt what I have already asserted 
that “Gardening is the art which does mend Nature,’’ 
and that is in the case of the Gloxinia. The Gloxinia 
has its parts divided into fives; but in its natural 
state without the aid of the cultivator four stamens 
only at first are to be found. The fifth one is in the 
form of a little projection at the bottom of the 
flower tube, waiting as it were for 
more favourable conditions, when it will readily 
spring to the top of the flower tube to make the 
fifth, which under proper cultivation it always 
does. 
Then this art must be simply the helping of 
Nature to attain to its highest state of perfection 
from our point of view. This art was that which 
formed the occupation of our first parents, and it is 
an art that will engage the attention of man to the 
last. 
Well, then you ask what has botany to offer ? 
Wherein is it a help to gardening ? In the first place 
it teaches us about the structure of plants ; secondly, 
the functions performed by living plants; thirdly, 
the systematic arrangement of plants in their sub¬ 
kingdoms, classes, orders, etc. 
Before we go on to the examination of their 
structure, it is well for us that we should understand 
something of the characters by which plants are 
divided into sub-kingdoms and classes. We are all 
aware that the vegetable kingdom is divided into two 
sub-kingdoms, namely—flowering and flowerless 
plants. The former are called Phanerogams, the 
latter Cryptogams. 
Again, flowering plants are divided into two great 
classes known as Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. 
The first are plants which germinate with two seed 
leaves, as the term implies, while the second has 
only one, hence the term, the first part of it being de¬ 
rived from monos, one. The characters of these two 
classes we must keep clearly before us, as we shall 
see other distinctions as we go on. 
(To be continued.) 
-- 
GREENHOUSE RHODODENDRONS AT 
EDINBURGH. 
A group of eight varieties of hybrid Greenhouse 
Rhododendrons was exhibited by Mr. McMillan, 
Trinity Cottage, Edinburgh, at the recent spring 
show of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, 
and two of them were awarded First-class Certifi¬ 
cates. I asked him a few particulars concerning 
their parentage, and other matters. 
“The pure white one is a cross between R. 
veitchianum and a large white-flowered seedling 
from Lady Alice Fitzwilliam, the former being the 
seed parent. The other with the blotch is from the 
reverse cross of the same parents. Mother Nature 
